No slowing the sewing

Marblehead tailor Charlie Katsoulakos, 87, has been helping local residents look sharp for almost a half a century.

William J. Dowd / wdowd@wickedlocal.com

Marblehead tailor Charlie Katsoulakos, 87, has been helping local residents look sharp for almost a half a century.

From the way his tailor shop at 123 Pleasant St. is laid out today, retirement seems to be the last thing on his mind, even as his ninth decade encroaches on him. Inside his shop, full racks of clothing line walls; various-sized metal zippers and scissors and different-colored lace and plastic buttons litter countertops; and spools of string feed two hefty, foot-powered sewing machines.

Here, with all these tools and materials, Katsoulakos employs his “careful and precise” tailoring and alteration skills to his patrons’ clothing using “old world” tailoring techniques.

“Why would I want to stop?” he replied when asked last Thursday whether retirement was in his near future. “I keep good health. I look good. I enjoy my work and have good customers.”

Among a stack of newspaper clippings and old photographs that he’s collected through the years, which capture “so many memories,” and rest on a countertop in his shop is a citation state Rep. Lori Ehrlich presented to him recently, commending him on his 48 years of service to Marblehead.

“When is a tailor more than needles and thread? When it’s Charlie Katsoulakos,” said Ehrlich in a statement to the Reporter. “Charlie and his family are fine people and were childhood neighbors of mine on Tidewinds Terrace. I’m glad to see that the rest of the community beyond our neighborhood knows of his big heart and dedication to the town.”

Many in town know of his affable persona and may have received tailoring services from him for years but may not know the sacrifices he's made to pursue his dream.

His father, throughout the 1920s and into the ‘60s, owned a tiny, street-level tailor shop inside a curved building where two sidewalks met in downtown Athens, Greece. It was here, as a young boy, that his father passed down the needle-and-thread trade to him.

“I learned at a very young age to be a tailor,” said Katsoulakos. “I learned when I was only 14 years old, and it was a time when Germans occupied Athens - times were bad - so I quit school and worked with my father.”

For 15 years, Katsoulakos would work alongside his father, perfecting his trade, until a slow economy hit Greece.

“We were busy, but it was difficult times with the economy,” he said. “If I would have stayed, it would have been hard to make enough money for both of us to make a living.”

The year was 1955, and like so many during this period, he looked west for opportunity. At 30, he boarded a ship with “a few bucks” in his pocket “to start a new life.”

“It took me a little time to get here because it was a cargo ship, and we had to make a few stops at a few places before we got to the United States,” he said.

He recalled the Mediterranean Sea gave him quite the scare before the ship crossed through the Strait of Gibraltar.

“I could see a huge storm was a coming,” he said. “The waves were higher than the ship; I was scared to death. I’ve never seen such huge waves.”

Once in the Atlantic, he explained, all was calm. After leaving Athens, the ship landed a 30 days later in New York City, where he hopped on a train and headed for Boston.

Soon, he found work in Malden.

“I got there and started as a tailor in a small shop,” he said. “It was so busy because then there was no shopping malls at that time. Everybody went to a tailor.”

He said he worked during the day, attended night class to get his general education degree, “learned the language” and studied for his citizenship test. Three years later, he obtained his American citizenship.

While working in Malden, a seamstress introduced him to the love of his life, Helen, who would eventually say, “I do.”

“It was my lucky day when I met her,” he said. “She was a good-looking, smart girl. She used to make her own clothes. “

They moved to Peabody, where he took work from different shops, sometimes working out of his home.

The owner of a tailor shop that was then located in Swampscott’s Vinnin Square asked him one day to join his team full-time.

“He said, ‘Charlie, I’d like for you to be my main tailor,’ but I told him I prefered to open my own shop,” he said. “He recommended I open one in Marblehead.”

In 1965, he and Helen opened their first tailor shop in a building that used to reside next to the Spirit of ‘76 bookstore and National Grand Bank.

“The building was empty, so I moved in,” said Katsoulakos. ”I got so much work the first week from people that the clothing rack collapsed.”

Helen was his right hand, he explained, doing the bills, keeping him in check and making clothing for so many years.

“I didn’t have to teach her anything; she knew everything,” he said.

Her death in 1996 hit him hard.

“I found myself all alone,” he said. “The first year was tough.”

He said she gave him a lifetime of memories and two “beautiful gifts,” Michael and Kathy, their children, who have both given them grandchildren.

“Marblehead is a beautiful place to be,” he said. “You have beautiful waters and harbor. You can’t find a more gorgeous place to live. I love it.”

Nowadays, he’s got a daily routine, which keeps his “mind sharp.”

“I go to bed at 9:30 p.m., get up at 6 a.m., have my coffee, get ready, come to work and keep it going, you know,” he said. “I love my work and what I’m doing; it’s better than staying at home and watching television all day.”